Erotapokriseis ( gr, ἐρωταποκρίσεις, , questions and answers), singular erotapokrisis (), is a genre of

Byzantine literature Byzantine literature is the Greek literature of the Middle Ages, whether written in the territory of the Byzantine Empire or outside its borders.Encyclopædia Britannica - "Greek literature: Byzantine literature" It forms the second period in th ...

. ''Erotapokriseis'' are a series of questions and answers in the form of a

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...

. Topics touched upon include

Christian dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam o ...

biblical exegesis Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

and

riddles A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requir ...

. The interlocutors are typically anonymous or at least not fully characterized. One is a teacher and the other a pupil. The answers are generally presented as '' gnomai'', dogmatic truths. The genre originated around 400, but was at its most popular between the seventh and ninth centuries. It declined thereafter, but experienced a revival in the fifteenth century. Among the Greek authors of the genre are

Maximus the Confessor Maximus the Confessor ( el, Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής), also spelt Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his earl ...

John of Damascus John of Damascus ( ar, يوحنا الدمشقي, Yūḥanna ad-Dimashqī; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Δαμασκηνός, Ioánnēs ho Damaskēnós, ; la, Ioannes Damascenus) or John Damascene was a Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and a ...

, Anastasius of Sinai,

Nicholas of Methone Nicholas of Methone (died 1160/1166) was a Byzantine theologian and philosopher who served as the bishop of Methone from around 1150. Nicholas wrote hagiography, hymnody, theology, biblical exegesis and panegyric. His most widely read works were ...

Nicetas of Heraclea Nicetas () was an 11th-century Greek clergyman. A deacon of St. Sophia, Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), ...

, Symeon of Thessalonica and

Mark of Ephesus Mark of Ephesus ( Greek: Μάρκος ό Εφέσιος, born Manuel Eugenikos) was a hesychast theologian of the late Palaiologan period of the Byzantine Empire who became famous for his rejection of the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438–1439) ...

. The pinnacle of the genre was reached in the ''Amphilochia'' of

Photius Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...

. Many ''erotapokriseis'' were translated and a few composed in Slavonic. The earliest translations were made in the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europ ...

, the most important being that of Anastasius of Sinai's ''Interrogationes et responsiones''.

References

Further reading